HOEDOWNS, REELS, AND FROLICS. Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance

Jamison, Phil

ISBN 10: 0252080815 / ISBN 13: 9780252080814

Published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2015

About this Item

2015. A Near Fine copy. 8vo., 276 pp., bound in publishers illustrated glossy stiff wraps. Minor signs of shelf wear only, text appears unmarked.

Seller Inventory # 37427

Bibliographic Details

• Title: HOEDOWNS, REELS, AND FROLICS. Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252080815
• ISBN 13: 9780252080814
• Binding: Wraps
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Music
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

In Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics, old-time musician and flatfoot dancer Philip Jamison journeys into the past and surveys the present to tell the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia.
 
These distinctive folk dances, Jamison argues, are not the unaltered jigs and reels brought by early British settlers, but hybrids that developed over time by adopting and incorporating elements from other popular forms. He traces the forms from their European, African American, and Native American roots to the modern day. On the way he explores the powerful influence of black culture, showing how practices such as calling dances as well as specific kinds of steps combined with white European forms to create distinctly "American" dances.
 
From cakewalks to clogging, and from the Shoo-fly Swing to the Virginia Reel, Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics reinterprets an essential aspect of Appalachian culture.

About the Author

Philip Jamison is a nationally-known old-time musician, flatfoot dancer, and square dance caller, who teaches Appalachian music and dance, as well as mathematics, at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. He writes on Appalachian music and dance at www. philjamison.com.